No Liverpool fan would have failed to notice the fact that the age of the players the Reds are targeting in this summer’s transfer market are pretty young. If you go through all of them, the oldest player we are said to be interested in is 26 years of age. Jordan Henderson (20), Charlie Adam (25), Stewart Downing (26), Gael Clichy (25), Connor Wickham (18), Scott Dann (24) and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain (18) are all yet to get to the peak of their careers.
The reasoning given for us pursuing such relatively young talent has been that owners Fenway Sports Group strategy are following the principles of Moneyball and Sabermetrics. Basically, it means the Reds will always pursue players who can either be bought below market value compared to their statistical performance, or rather in the negative sense, that you never buy player at the peak of their market value. The belief is that all the players above will go up in value after Liverpool have bought them rather than go down, primarily due a statistical assessment of the player’s characteristics and abilities which sees greater potential in the player.
This Sabermetrical approach maybe in play, and with one of its biggest exponents in Damien Comolli currently our Director of Football, there is certainly merit to the argument that selecting targets maybe influenced by such methods. However, such an explanation leaves out the biggest factor in our pursuit of transfer targets: Kenny Dalglish .
King Kenny knows more than anyone else what it is to be a great Liverpool player. Even Damien Comolli who has a big say in player recruitment has stated that he talked to Kenny, even before he became manager, as to what defines a Liverpool player. FSG and Comolli could use as many statistical methods as they like, but it seems apparent to me that the great driving force in the pursuit of all our transfer targets has been Dalglish.
As it should be, you might say, he is the manager after all, but the emphasis in player recruitment looks more down to what makes a Liverpool player, rather than any policy focusing on youth. As I said in another article today, Kenny is trying to build a team for the long term. With the Reds support behind him he knows any short-termism will be blown out of the water, and for me, the signing of somebody like Henderson is typical of this approach ensuring a very long term goal.
It is all about legacy and building something that will last rather buying all the best players around the world now for a shot at the title. I, like every other Reds fan, would love the likes of Sergio Aguero, Juan Mata et al arriving at Anfield, but I know it won’t happen. Certainly these are young talented foreign stars but perhaps Kenny feels the best way to inculcate a team spirit is to buy young and hungry players who desire a stay in Liverpool for the long haul. Sure, it doesn’t preclude foreign players as Kenny demonstrated with the signing of Suarez, but I feel Dalglish is looking for players with a “hunger” to play for Liverpool Football Club.
To build a long term legacy, you need players dedicated to the cause for the long term, and although I certainly believe there are better players out there than the ones Liverpool are currently pursuing, I know that Kenny knows more than me about how to shape a team. Shaping a Liverpool side, with youth, vibrancy, desire, hunger and spirit is the goal, and hopefully this idea will come to fruition in the next few years.
Read more of David’s articles at Live4Liverpool